Hans-Ulrich Rudel

Hans-Ulrich Rudel (2 July 1916 – 18 December 1982) was a German ground-attack pilot during World War II and a post-war neo-Nazi activist.

The most decorated German pilot of the war and the only recipient of the Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds, Rudel was credited with the destruction of 519 tanks, one battleship, one cruiser, 70 landing craft and 150 artillery emplacements.

He claimed nine aerial victories and the destruction of more than 800 vehicles.

He flew 2,530 ground-attack missions exclusively on the Eastern Front, usually flying the Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bomber.

Rudel was born on 2 July 1916, in Konradswaldau, in Lower Silesia, Prussia.

He was the third child of Lutheran minister Johannes Rudel.

As a boy, Rudel was a poor scholar but a keen sportsman.

Rudel attended the humanities oriented Gymnasium, in Lauban.

He joined the Hitler Youth in 1933.

After graduating with Abitur in 1936, he participated in the compulsory Reich Labour Service (RAD).

Following the labour service, Rudel joined the Luftwaffe in the same year and began his military career as an air reconnaissance pilot.

German forces invaded Poland in 1939 starting World War II in Europe.

As an air observer, Rudel flew on long-range reconnaissance missions over Poland.

During 1940, he served as a regimental adjutant for the 43rd Aviators Training Regiment, based at Vienna.

In early 1941, he underwent training as a Stuka pilot.

He was posted to 1 Staffel Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 (StG 2), which was moved to occupied Poland in preparation for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, in June 1941.

On 21 September 1941, Rudel took part in an attack on the Soviet battleship Marat of the Baltic Fleet.

Marat was sunk at her moorings on 23 September 1941 after being hit by one 1000 kg bomb near the forward superstructure.

It caused the explosion of the forward magazine which demolished the superstructure and the forward part of the hull.

326 men were killed and the ship gradually settled to the bottom in 11 m of water.

Her sinking is commonly credited to Rudel alone, but Rudel dropped only one of the two bombs that sank her.

Rudel's unit then took part in Operation Typhoon, Army Group Center's attempt to capture the Soviet capital.

Rudel's gunner from October 1941 was Erwin Hentschel, who served with Rudel for the next two and a half years, both men earning the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during that period.

From May 1941 to January 1942, Rudel flew 500 missions.

In early 1942, Rudel got married while home on leave.

Later in the year, he took part in the Battle of Stalingrad.

In February 1943, Rudel flew his 1,000th combat mission, which made him into a national hero.

He then participated in the experiments with using the Ju 87 G in the anti-tank role.

The anti-tank unit took part in operations against the Soviet Kerch–Eltigen Operation.

The footage from an onboard gun camera was used in Die Deutsche Wochenschau, a Reich Ministry of Propaganda newsreel.

In April 1943, Rudel was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, receiving the Oak Leaves from Hitler personally in Berlin.

Rudel participated in the Battle of Kursk with the same unit.

On 12 July 1943 Rudel claimed 12 Soviet tanks in one day.

Hentschel completed 1,400 sorties with Rudel and drowned on 21 March 1944 when they were making their way to the German lines following a forced landing.

Rudel surrendered to US forces in 1945 and emigrated to Argentina.

An unrepentant Nazi, he helped fugitives escape to Latin America and the Middle East, and sheltered Josef Mengele, the former SS doctor at Auschwitz.

He worked as an arms dealer to several right-wing regimes in South America, for which he was placed under observation by the US Central Intelligence Agency.

In the West German federal election of 1953, Rudel was the top candidate for the far-right German Reich Party but was not elected.

Following the fall of Perón, Rudel moved to Paraguay, where he acted as a foreign representative for several German companies.

In 1976, Rudel attended a conference in the United States with various members of the United States military and defense industry as part of the development of the A-10 Thunderbolt II; Rudel's status as a highly decorated attack aircraft pilot and particularly his experience at destroying Soviet tanks from the air was considered relevant to a potential conflict between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.